


What was and is

by lakeflower



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Gen, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Post Game, pre game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:49:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23531869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lakeflower/pseuds/lakeflower
Summary: A compilation of past and recent events in Zacharie's life.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	What was and is

**Author's Note:**

> This started somewhere in february and was going to be scrapped but I finished it anyway. Zacharie's thoughts through the course of the game felt like an interesting topic (the judge special ending).

It’s been a long day. Zacharie gives the passage one last look, checking every corner. All kinds of interesting items can be found in the smoke mines, but the lack of light discourages him from searching any further. He enters the elevator, the rooftop being his next stop. He needs to see the sky after spending the entire day working in darkness.

He steps out of the elevator, and sees something on the balcony: a familiar cat.

“Buenas tardes, Pablo! What are you doing here?” Zacharie asks. The cat notices him, grinning back at him.

“Ah, greetings, kind merchant. I have come here to admire the beautiful scenery presented in front of us. I suppose you have arrived to do the same” the judge replies.

Zacharie nods as he leans on the balcony, next to Pablo. “I love the colour of the sky. It’s beautiful.”

The judge stares at the pink sky, watching how the clouds move through it. “I agree, it puts the mind at ease. How delightful it is to exist alongside its beauty. It is important to take a moment to appreciate this mundane display of art” he comments, thanking the sky for its existence.

Zacharie looks down, and watches how elsens run in and out of the postal office. They’re constantly working, so busy that they don’t even notice the sky.

“Can I pet you?” he asks the judge.

“Certainly” Pablo replies as he jumps from the balcony into Zacharie’s arms. Zacharie cradles the cat, petting its ears with one free hand. Pablo purrs contentedly, gently leaning against the human’s chest.

Zacharie couldn’t be happier, and he thanks the sky for gracing him and his friend with its presence.

***

“Orchids are my favorite kind of flower. Just look at them! I bet their aroma is as pleasant as their appearance” Valerie says as he contemplates the pictures on the page. Zacharie agrees. He loves flowers, despite only seeing them in drawings.

Zacharie moves a little closer to Valerie, trying to get a better look at the illustrations on the book. The flowers are beautiful, and he wishes he could turn the images into reality. This library is beautiful too, its walls a dark shade of blue, calming. And it is so pleasantly quiet.

The library would look even more beautiful if it had flowers on the outside. The amusement park could use some, too.

“Zacharie, what is your favorite flower?” Valerie asks.

“Well, it’s hard to say. They’re so different, but all of them are beautiful. I wish I had a garden with all of them” Zacharie replies, analyzing each flower he can remember. “But if I had to pick a favorite, then maybe the lotus would be it.”

Zacharie and Valerie spend the rest of the evening talking about flowers.

***

The pale sun shines softly, illuminating the small island. The way the plastic waves crash against the zone’s shoreline sounds like a vague melody. “What a beautiful day”, Zacharie thinks to himself. He walks through the golden landscape until he finds the entrance to a basement. He descends the stairs, and sees his friend.

Sugar greets Zacharie with a hug. It had been a long time since his last visit, so she’s happy to see him again. She can’t wait to show him her new dance.

So they dance. Zacharie doesn’t really consider himself to be a dancer, his awkward moves resembling some kind of bizarre yoga exercise more than an actual dance. He isn’t nearly as graceful as Sugar, who spins and jumps around the room as if she was gliding through air. Neither of them care, since it is fun. They dance and dance, and get lost in the joy of it all. Their choreographies a representation of themselves, the dance an expression of their friendship.

Finally, they stop, both too tired to continue. They thank each other for the dance, and sit down. Zacharie tells Sugar about his day, and Sugar tells Zacharie about her dreams. Last night she dreamt about a pond, in which a swan lived. The pond was surrounded with flowers and trees, a secret paradise. The swan invited all of its friend to a big party at the pond. Sadly, the dream ended, so she didn’t get to see the swan’s party. She wishes she could go to a place as beautiful as that pond.

She is afraid of going out of the basement, the outside world too unnerving. But he is relieved, because she has her dreams and dances to solace her.

Zacharie says bye to Sugar and leaves. He’ll visit her again soon.

***

Zacharie sits near the red save block, contemplating the cascades of sizzling flesh. He doesn’t visit Alma often, but his new teleportation powers make traveling more efficient. After all, he is the game’s only item merchant, and he needs to be present everywhere. Especially now that he has a customer.

The batter is something else. His movements are mechanical jet fluid, every swing of his bat precise and brutal, his steps rigid but confident. He doesn’t speak often, but when he does there is clarity that silences any opposing arguments. He is salvation, the purifier, the game’s protagonist. But despite having an admirable goal, there is something wrong him. His add-on’s light shines, highlighting him like a being of hope and mercy, but it is the same light that slices and kills in one sickening blow. There is a subtle threat behind his voice, a muted warning. He’s also aided by the highest force of them all, the player.

Zacharie feels relieved to be in his position. A hit to the skull with a bat must be painful. He is also intrigued by the player themselves. What kind of world do they live in? Does the player’s world need a purifier too? What drove them to play, anyway? Whatever it is, he may never know. But for now he’s glad to be doing business. What a lucky guy he is, getting to help such interesting beings.

***

The sky is the same it has always been, but Zacharie never gets tired of it. He wishes he could stay in the balcony forever, the entire zone can be seen from here. There is something immensely pleasant in the purple shades of the night contrasting against the pink buildings. The more he stares at the sky the more he wants to get lost in it. He imagines himself with wings, flying and spending the rest of his life between the clouds. It’s an image can’t get out of his mind.

He once asked Valerie if he wanted to fly too. Valerie said that he liked the idea, but he always found books more interesting than clouds. It must be fun to live the in library. Zacharie remembers all the evenings he spent there, and he can understand why Valerie took a liking to the place. They talked for hours about whatever topic they found in a book, or they did dramatic readings of storybooks together. Impressive, considering most of the books are fake and missing pages. Valerie managed to make them interesting.

But the library feels empty now. Valerie doesn’t come to read, he just spends day and night on the top floors spouting nonsense. Valerie’s body, actually. A parasite has taken hold of him, his real personality long gone. Hopefully his real self isn’t conscious.

Zacharie sighs. It’s not just the fact that it happened, but also the realization that he couldn’t do anything to help. Valerie didn’t deserve any of this, but that is how the script goes. Zacharie knows this. But that doesn’t make things easier.

He keeps staring at the sky. For a moment, he believes that this is just another one of those evenings. Those evenings where he returned from working at the mall and relaxed. Those evenings where he could talk with Valerie. Those evenings where things didn’t feel so unfair.

Zacharie turns at the sound of footsteps. The batter arrives with a pair of rings made out of light and a cat accompanying him. The cat turns out to be Pablo, who is too worried about something to properly greet (or notice) Zacharie.

“Nice view from up here, don’t you think? It almost makes me forget that this is only a video game” Zacharie comments as he displays his items.

The batter doesn’t say anything. He buys what he needs and climbs up the stairs, Pablo and the rings following.

Zacharie contemplates the sky one last time before he leaves.

***

The peaceful solitude of zone 0 doesn’t feel comforting anymore. Zacharie shouldn’t be here, but there is something he needs to do.

He descends the stairs, and sees a corpse. It almost looks peaceful, like someone sleeping in a garden of roses. Zacharie sits down in front of it, his eyes refusing to focus too much.

He hums a melody, a tune that makes you dance. He talks about his day and how things have been lately. He describes what he remembers of his dreams. He rambles about the intrusive thoughts in his head. He cries, apologizing for not being there in her departure.

He says goodbye.

She must be dancing somewhere, truly safe and happy. In a valley of clouds, or in a secret pond, in or another beautiful, peaceful place. A stupid way of thinking, since she doesn’t exist anymore.

He finally stands up and leaves.

If only Sugar could see the way the way the sun is shining right now, it is a beautiful day. But she would be afraid of it.

Yes, it really is better like this.

***

As usual, the batter doesn’t say anything as he hands Zacharie the credits.

“Bis vincit, que se vincet in Victoria” Zacharie says, mentally saying goodbye.

The batter and his three halos are consumed by the light of the entrance to the throne room. He is gone.

Zacharie finally understands. One big act of mercy, that’s what this is. The batter doesn’t believe in peace or in violence, but he does believe in justice. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here. That’s what video game protagonists do: get things done. In the batters case is even better, because he doesn’t feel. So he doesn’t stagger himself mourning over all the atrocities he’s seen and done. Or maybe he does feel something. Pity seeing this unstable, cruel kingdom. Anger and frustration at corrupted rulers. Maybe it was love towards his creatorson that started this mission. Or he just doesn’t care, and he’s simply putting an end to something that was already dying.

Long, long ago, Zacharie went to one of the queen’s conferences. He remembers seeing Pablo and the rest of the guardians there. They were all enthusiastic, talking about the world and how it was starting to take shape. He remembers how the queen spoke. There was confidence and hope in her words. Her nation was guaranteed to succeed, it would be a realm of kindness and understanding, where peace would reign. In the end, it was all sweet illusion.

He wonders what kind of game this would be if things had gone differently. Why does he care? He is just here to sell things. It doesn’t matter. It is only a game. He’s probably gone through this exact same scenario before, in a past save file. The player seems to be having fun, at least. The batter, the purifier, the hero, is about to end his journey.

And Zacharie did a good job.

The only thing left to do is wait.

***

The zone is silent, its production stopped and its workers dead. The shades of pink and green have disappeared. Zacharie and Pablo sit in the tramway tracks, staring at the grey gradient that is the sky.

“I should have never trusted him” the judge says, his tail moving indecisively. “His intent was obvious from the first time I saw him. How could I be so blind?” he frowns, his eyes moving from the sky to the vast sea of plastic.

“This was never meant to happen, I never thought this could even have the possibility of happening. My ignorance has led us here, and now there is nothing left.”

Zacharie gently places a hand on Pablo’s back. “Don’t blame yourself. We were all doomed from the start.”

Pablo remains still, too ashamed to look at Zacharie in the eyes. He thinks about the statement he just heard.

“If that is true, then why even exist? Just so that someone can end it? Living for the sole purpose of dying?” the judge says in disbelief, frustrated at everything. He curls onto himself, as if trying to hide from the white daylight.

“I suppose this was inevitable. The legislation of the lands was not optimal, to say the least. I just didn’t see it so clearly. So much cruelty that went unpunished, indifference to normalized suffering, and ungratefulness. This is the fate that we deserve. There was nothing except evil in this nation.”

Zacharie analyses Pablo’s words. What a shame that it all had to end like this, considering how well it began. Over time, everything became corrupted. He understands that. What he doesn’t understand is why, but then he realizes he already knows. It is the way the game is written. It doesn’t matter if he deserved this or not. It doesn’t matter if he and Pablo are left to rot with their regrets and pain. This isn’t even happening. He is just a group of pixels. A pile of text in a page. Or simply a thought within someone’s head. But somehow, in all those fake things that he is, he still feels everything to be real.

“There wasn’t only evil. I got to meet you” he says, slightly smiling at Pablo.

Pablo sits up, taking a long look at Zacharie. “It is true” he says quietly.

Zacharie carefully picks up Pablo. The cat doesn’t protest, so Zacharie holds him in his lap. After a while Pablo begins to purr.

“I am truly grateful to still have you by my side, even in world as empty as this” Pablo says.

Zacharie feels the same way.

They admire the sky. Even if it has been robbed of it colors, it will always remain beautiful. It reminds them of good times. At the same time it also gives them thoughts about the future. Hope, maybe.

“I miss my brother” Pablo says, staring at one specific cloud. “I know it is not possible, but I believe that he is in a better place now.”

“I miss him too. I miss everyone” Zacharie says as memories start to roll on his mind. “I think that they are all in a new kingdom. Somewhere over a rainbow, perhaps.”

Pablo smiles. “Do you think we will get there to see them someday?” he asks.

“Yes” Zacharie says, smiling as he stares at the horizon.

The world was born from the nothingness. Maybe, just maybe, it can happen again. And things will be better in that re-birthed reality.

After everything, there is still hope. The sky is soothing. Pablo purrs contentedly.

Zacharie couldn’t be happier.


End file.
